Alfa Romeo to up its output, including an EV
The brand tips a limited-edition “halo car” every few years in addition to mainstream models, and electric vehicles from 2025.
Alfa Romeo’s legendary Disco Volante, or Flying Saucer, sports-racing car could inspire a new limited-edition model, according to Daniel Guzzafame, international head of product at the Italian car maker.
Alfa Romeo recently unveiled the 33 Stradale, a retro styled, but thoroughly modern supercar that will be built in internal combustion and EV variants, with a total of just 33 to be produced, and a price believed to be about $3 million apiece.
Such extremely limited, high-price motor cars have generally been the preserve of the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini, but Guzzafame says Alfa Romeo has set up a bottega, or workshop, dedicated to the brand’s ultimate enthusiast buyers. This gives Alfa the capability to produce an ultra-low volume “halo car” every two or three years, blending up-to-date mechanicals with exteriors shaped by traditional Italian body-building techniques.
This will run alongside a busy program of expanding the company’s range of regular models.
“The plan is from next year, every year, one [new] car on the market,” says Guzzafame. “When you have five to six cars, say five cars plus one specialty model, something like that, you are 100 per cent capable of covering the vast majority of the premium market, which is where we play.”
There will soon be replacements for the Giulia and Stelvio models (the long-running sedan and SUV variant). Other new models joining these, and the newer Tonale SUV, will be in the C, D and E segments, he says. This means small-medium to family-sized vehicles rather than, say, mini cars (such as the recent Mito hatch) or larger luxury sedans, such as the 164 of the 1980s and 1990s.
Alfa was upfront about the 33 Stradale being built to emphasise the passion for the brand rather than make a profit, but the huge reception it has received – and the fact that all 33 examples sold out immediately – should ease the way for successors. It was inspired by a sports car and its racing derivative from the 1960s.
The Disco Volante was seen earlier and is even rarer: a handful were built in 1952 and 1953, with convertible and coupé bodies. A huge emphasis on windtunnel testing gave it the “flying saucer” shape.
Guzzafame says the company is now talking to its most enthusiastic (and, presumably, wealthy) customers with a view to producing the follow-up and the Disco Volante was mentioned by many of the participants.
Among the mainstream cars, the first cab off the rank is the small-ish SUV code-named “Kid”, which will probably share its underpinnings with the Jeep Avenger and Fiat 600, two high-riding city cars now on sale in Europe. Jeep and Fiat are part of the Stellantis Group (along with Alfa, Maserati, Citroën, Peugeot and many others).
Guzzafame says that to have Stellantis as a parent is a big benefit. “If you need to develop everything from scratch, you are dead.”
The Bottega cars are separate from the “speciality model” alluded to by Guzzafame. This is likely to be a more accessible sports car, along the lines of the discontinued Spider convertible or Brera coupé, or perhaps a slightly more hard-core effort, such as the 4C (2014-2020), with its mid-mounted engine and carbon-fibre chassis.
Alfa Romeo is considering at least three different approaches, but any such car will come towards the end of the new model blitz.
“That is the kind of vehicle that typically generates inflow in the showroom or online,” says Guzzafame, “and it’s perfectly useless to have a great inflow if you don’t have anything else … you are throwing away all of the possible collateral effect of having a car like that in your showroom.”
The other priority is electrification, about which Guzzafame says, “The plan is one of 100 per cent electric from 2025 on any new program, [and] by 2027, 100 per cent electric.” He insists that Alfa can produce a competitive EV in terms of range and charging speed, with the performance and handling people expect from the brand.
This EV timetable refers only to core models, however.
A Bottega or specialty car could use a petrol engine, depending on EU rules on emissions, which are still in flux. That Bottega car may not be a Disco Volante of course, Guzzafame says.
“I can tell you that there are different options on the table. Alfa Romeo has a number of very iconic cars, super cars, from the past.”
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